• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.103-114
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• 2017

A membrane bioreactor by sequentially alternating the inflow and by applying a two-stage coagulation control based on pre-coagulation was evaluated in terms of phosphorus removal efficiency and cost-savings. The MBR consisted of two identical alternative reaction tanks, followed by aerobic, anoxic and membrane tanks, where the wastewater and the internal return sludge alternatively flowed into each alternative reaction tank at every 2 hours. In the batch-operated alternative reaction tank, the initial concentration of nitrate rapidly decreased from 2.3 to 0.4 mg/L for only 20 minutes after stopping the inflow, followed by substantial release of phosphorus up to 4 mg/L under anaerobic condition. Jar test showed that the minimum alum doses to reduce the initial $PO_4$-P below 0.2 mg/L were 2 and 9 mol-Al/mol-P in the wastewater and the activated sludge from the membrane tank, respectively. It implies that a pre-coagulation in influent is more cost-efficient for phosphorus removal than the coagulation in the bioreactor. On the result of NUR test, there were little difference in terms of denitrification rate and contents of readily biodegradable COD between raw wastewater and pre-coagulated wastewater. When adding alum into the aerobic tank, alum doses above 26 mg/L as $Al_2O_3$ caused inhibitory effects on ammonia oxidation. Using the two-stage coagulation control based on pre-coagulation, the P concentration in the MBR effluent was kept below 0.2 mg/L with the alum of 2.7 mg/L as $Al_2O_3$, which was much lower than 5.1~7.4 mg/L as $Al_2O_3$ required for typical wastewater treatment plants. During the long-term operation of MBR, there was no change of the TMP increase rate before and after alum addition.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.112-115
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• 2007

Currently an increase in domestic sewage and industrial wastewater causes serious water pollution in Korea. To solve water pollution problems, conventional activated sludge (CAS) system is generally used in wastewater treatment plant but this process is so ineffective in nitrogen and phosphorus. Even if CAS system is the major process, it must be improved instantly so as to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. Otherwise, the serious water pollution problems can't be resolved with CAS system. Therefore this study focused on the comparison of the treatment characteristics between ASA system and CAS system. And also the mass balance of each process of ASA system. The results from operating advanced step aeration (ASA) system indicated that the removal efficiency of BOD, COD, and SS was 89.9%, 74.5%, and 89.0% respectively. In comparison, the removal efficiency of BOD, COD, and SS for CAS system was 89.5%, 71.8%, and 89.5% respectively. In addition to the results, the TN removal efficiency of ASA system was 76.5% comparing to 32.7% of CAS system. It was concluded that the TN removal efficiency of ASA system was 44% higher than CAS system. And the TP removal efficiency was 81.4% in ASA system comparing to 25.2% in CAS system. It also means that over 56% of TP was removed in ASA system comparing to CAS system.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.191-196
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• 2007

This study used biofilm process, which needs simple operation, maintenance and smaller facility area than conventional activated sludge process with the small plant operation, in the treatment of increasing sewage with the rapid industrial growth. The reactor used in this study consists of one anaerobic and one aerobic chamber filled with waste ceramic and waste vinyl as media and the treated sewage was from restaurant source. The experiment was scaled up from lab. to pilot scale and lasted for about 100 days. We focused on the removal efficiency of organics, nitrogen and phosphorus with constant HRT and continuous aeration. The removal efficiency of $BOD_5$ and SS were 94.33% and 87.77% respectively, which was a satisfaction level. However the removal efficiency of $COD_{Cr}$ was 81.46% somewhat below the desired level of 90%, and that of T-N and T-P showed 71.92% and 21.10% respectively, that was below the expected value. The removal efficiency of $COD_{Cr}$ and T-N in the pilot scale was about 10% low compared with the lab.-scale.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2008

In order to improve reactor performance of existing sewage treatment plants, the feasibility of enhancing reactor performance by bioaugmentation using EM as bioaugmentation agent and the effects of anoxic: oxic time ratio on reactor performance were investigated. Continuous and intermittent aeration modes were compared under the 6 hr of HRT. Three different types of intermittent aeration modes, that is, 15 min, of anoxic:45 min of oxic, 30 min of anoxic: 30 min of oxic, and 45 min of anoxic: 15 min oxic respectively were chosen as test modes to study the effects of anoxic : oxic time ratios on reactor performance. The optimum anoxic: oxic time ratio was 30 min:30 min when considering simultaneous removal of organic, nitrogen and phosphorus. When applying EM into a continuously aerated reactor under the varying dosing rates of 50-200 ppm, reactor performance in terms of organic and nitrogen removal efficiencies was not improved at all. Nitrogen removal efficiency was increase when the EM dosing rate was increased. However the degree of improvement was slight when the EM was injected above 100 ppm. However optimum phosphorus removal was found at the EM dosing of 200 ppm. Thus it was found that optimum injection concentration of EM is 200 ppm. It is apparent that putting EM into a sewage treatment plant significantly affects the T-N removal efficiency of the reactor by enhancing denitrification efficiency especially in operational conditions of relatively long anoxic periods. To achieve reciprocal condition in a reactor with intermittent aeration it is necessary to enhance the reactor performance by EM injection. In the case of modifying existing continuously aerated reactors into intermittent aerated reactors, it is obvious that operating costs of aeration would be reduced by reducing aeration time when compared with existing conventional sewage treatment plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.92-98
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• 2013

Microalgal cultivation using wastewater is now regarded as essential for biodiesel production, as two goals can be achieved simultaneously; that is, nutrient removal efficiency and biomass production. Therefore, this study examined the effects of carbon sources, the N:P ratio, and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) to identify the optimal conditions for nutrient removal efficiency and biomass production. The effluent from a 2nd lagoon was used to cultivate microalgae. Whereas the algal species diversity and lipid content increased with a longer HRT, the algal biomass productivity decreased. Different carbon sources also affected the algal species composition. Diatoms were dominant with an increased pH when bicarbonate was supplied. However, 2% $CO_2$ gas led to a lower pH and the dominance of filamentous green algae with a much lower biomass productivity. Among the experiments, the highest chlorophyll-a concentration and lipid productivity were obtained with the addition of phosphate up to 0.5 mg/l P, since phosphorus was in short supply compared with nitrogen. The N and P removal efficiencies were also higher with a balanced N:P ratio, based on the addition of phosphate. Thus, optimizing the N:P ratio for the dominant algae could be critical in attaining higher algal growth, lipid productivity, and nutrient removal efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.461-466
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• 2011

The feasibility of utilizing food waste leachate as an external carbon source was tested to enhance biological nutrient removal from an industrial wastewater with an average flow rate of $164,800m^3/d$ and a low carbon/nitrogen ratio of 2.8. A considerable improvement in the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus was observed when a certain amount of the leachate, ranging from 70 to $142m^3/d$, was supplemented to the biological industrial wastewater treatment process. The addition of the leachate led to an increase in the BOD/N ratio (4.5) and the removal efficiency of nutritents from 29.7% to 71.7% for nitrogen and from 34.8% to 65.6% for phosphorus. However, an excessive dose of the leachate that significantly exceeded $120m^3/d$ caused serious operational problems, like oil-layer formation in the grit chamber and scum layer in the primary clarifier. Thus, an supplement of food waste leachate at a dose acceptable to an existing facilities can be a practical and effective means to enhance the nutrient removal from industrial wastewater and to dispose of the food waste leachate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2019

Utilization of organic waste as a renewable energy source is promising for sustainability and mitigation of climate change. Pyrolysis converts organic waste to gas, oil, and biochar by incomplete biomass combustion. Biochar is widely used as a soil conditioner and adsorbent. Biochar adsorbs/desorbs metals and ions depending on the soil environment and condition to act as a nutrient buffer in soils. Biochar is also regarded as a carbon storage by fixation of organic carbon. Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) are strictly controlled in many wastewater treatment plants because it causes eutrophication in water bodies. P and N is removed by biological and chemical methods in wastewater treatment plants and transferred to sludge for disposal. On the other hand, P is an irreplaceable essential element for all living organisms and its resource (phosphate rock) is estimated about 100 years of economical mining. Therefore, P and N recovery from waste and wastewater is a critical issue for sustainable human society. For the purpose, intensive researches have been carried out to remove and recover P and N from waste and wastewater. Previous studies have shown that biochars can adsorb and desorbed phosphates implying that biochars could be a complementary fertilizer. However, most of the conventional biochar have limited capacity to adsorb phosphates and nitrate. Recent studies have focused on biochar impregnated with metal salts to improve phosphates and nitrate adsorption by synthesizing biochars with novel structures and surface properties. Metal salts and metal oxides have been used for the surface modification of biochars. If P removal is the only concern, P adsorption kinetics and capacity are the only important factors. If both of P and N removal and the application of recovery are concerned, however, P and N desorption characteristics and bioavailability are also critical factors to be considered. Most of the researches on impregnated biochars have focused on P removal efficiency and kinetics. In this study, coffee waste is thermally treated to produce biochar and it was impregnated with Mg/Al to enhance phosphates and nitrate adsorption/desorption and P bioavailability to increase its value as a fertilizer. Kinetics of phosphates and nitrate adsorption/desorption and bioavailability analysis were carried out to estimate its potential as a P and N removal adsorbent in wasewater and a fertilizer in soil.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.649-659
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• 2023

This study was initiated to evaluate the phosphorus (P) removal and diesel oil degradation by bacteria isolated from industrial wastewater. The bacteria isolated were identified as Bacillus sp. The P removal efficiencies by Bacillus sp. were 99% at the initial 20 mg/L P concentration. The diesel degradation efficiencies by Bacillus sp. were 86.4% at an initial 1% diesel concentration. Lipophilicity by bacteria was the highest in the log phase, whereas it was the lowest in the death phase. As the diesel was used as a carbon source, P removal efficiencies by Bacillus sp. were 68%. When glucose, acetate, and a mixture of glucose and acetate as second carbon sources were added, the diesel degradation efficiencies were 69.22%, 65.46%, and 51.46%, respectively. The diesel degradation efficiency was higher in the individual additions of glucose or acetate than in the mixture of glucose and acetate. When P concentration increased from 20 mg/L to 30 mg/L, the diesel degradation efficiency was increased by 7% from 65% to 72%, whereas when P concentration was increased from 30 mg/L to 40 mg/L, there was no increase in diesel degradation. One of the five proteins identified by proteome analysis in the 0.5% diesel-treated samples may be involved in alkane degradation and is known as the cytochrome P450 system. Also, two of the sixteen proteins identified in the 1.5% diesel-treated samples may be implicated in the fatty acid transport system and alcohol dehydrogenation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.23-28
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• 1999

Phosphate removal through adsorbent, such as activated alumina, powdered aluminum oxide, flyash, blasted furnace slag and other materials, is commonly and widely practiced. The purpose of this study was to improve the removal efficiency of phosphorus in waste sludge earned at seafood processing factories. To investigate the utility and the feasibility of this sludge disposal process, experiment was carried out with a batch process. As a result, phosphate removal appears to increase with increasing adsorbent does, but shows no changes at an adsorbent does over 5g/l. With increasing ratios of initial phosphate concentration to adsorbent does, the amount of removed phosphate is increased while phosphate removal(%) is decreased. Wasted sludge, treated with zinc chloride chemically, represented a better efficiency than the untreated activated sludge and zinc chloride itself, when they reacted with phosphate solution.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.151-156
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• 2012

This research described the magnetic method for the rapid removal of green algae in water. We modified the pH, cation concentration, and magnetic powder concentration to discover the best removal performance. In order to rapidly remove green algae from water, we added magnetic powder and chitosan into algae water to make a magnetic substance and this was extracted by a strong neodymium magnet. The optimized conditions were pH of 6.5-7.5, chitosan concentration of 10 mg/L, and magnetite powder concentration of less than 0.05%. A higher removing rate was observed when a higher amount of magnetite or chitosan was used, but the total amounts of phosphorus or nitrogen were not decreased.